<p>A few months back, I got a call from a young woman who said she was new in town.</p><p>Usually an opening like this leads to a request for some nice places to dine.</p><p>No, Maria Pena had other ideas; she wanted me to profile her in my online blog to help her land a job.</p><p>She said she had come down from the Cincinnati area to work at a local eatery, but that it didn't work out.</p><p>“I'm the best chef in town no one's ever heard of,” she said.</p><p>Well, there's no questioning the confidence.</p><p>And now, there's opportunity to put her assertion to the test.</p><p>Pena, 33, is the head chef at the newly opened Coyote Cantina</p><p>at 18 SW Broadway St., a few steps from Ocala's downtown square.</p><p>“I need to make a name for myself down here, as well as the company I'm working for,” she says.</p><p>She's likely to have plenty of chances.</p><p>Located in the spot occupied by BFE for about two years, Coyote Cantina is something of a hybrid: casual eatery by day and early evening, rockin' nightclub by dark.</p><p>It's the result of a partnership of Bobby Tillander, his daughter Amanda, BFE owner Hugh Price, Kevin Reynolds and Chris Armstrong.</p><p>Together, they decided what this town needs is a touch of the Southwest.</p><p>“We wanted a concept that gives a little difference from Mark's or Harry's, gives something else that kind of fit, but was kind of different,” Tillander says.</p><p>Bare brick walls — one bearing an old ad for “Leona's Blood Elixer” — dominate the polished-rough look of the place.</p><p>Along one of the walls is a gleaming, yet specially reinforced, room-long bar.</p><p>“And we wanted to have a good meal at a good price,” he adds.</p><p>And that's where Pena comes in.</p><p>“I love the idea of opening up a new restaurant,” she says. “Everything here is pretty much homemade, and I want to blow them out of the water with my sauces.”</p><p>Though she concedes not having any professional culinary schooling, Pena says she's worked her way up through the ranks at several higher-end restaurants in Ohio over the past 18 years.</p><p>“Southwest is new for me, but it's not really a challenge; I grew up around Latin food,” she says. “And I know my food. I'm blessed that this job kind of fell into my lap.”</p><p>“I guess I can be kind of arrogant sometimes,” Pena continues. “I don't have that chef mentality, but I love to see a smile on someone's face when they eat my food.”</p><p>One of her biggest fans is her boss, Tillander, who is especially proud of the Cantina's wings — and tosses the gauntlet at the feet of Mojo Grill.</p><p>“Rondo's always been known as the king of wings; I would put up a challenge,” he adds. “Our wings are phenomenal.”</p><p>Other menu staples? Fried Snickers, which is generally not available on a regular basis, and their fried fish sandwich.</p><p>To be sure, about 9 p.m. a metamorphosis happens. The kitchen closes, the lights dim and a nightclub atmosphere takes over.</p><p>“It really is amazing how it turns over 180 degrees from family to nightclub,” Price notes.</p><p>It's a change that includes the bartenders getting up on the bar to dance. But not just any dancing.</p><p>They hired a former NFL cheerleader to handle choreography duties, “so it's not just the girls getting up here and shaking their booties,” Tillander says. “Their routines are like little shows.”</p><p>This is their bread and butter: Tillander, of course, has owned several nightspots around Ocala for years, and both Price and Reynolds have musical backgrounds.</p><p>Still, they all emphasize their primary focus here is the food; they plan someday to franchise the concept.</p><p>“This is a real restaurant,” Tillander says. “A real restaurant, and that's what we really want to push. The nightlife</p><p>will do what it's going to do</p><p>and it's always been good in Ocala.”</p><p>“But that's why when we hired our kitchen manager and our front-of-the-house manager we went outside the box,” he says. “We didn't want someone from Ocala who's jumped from place to place to place.</p><p>“No one's seen her, no one's tasted her food,” Tillander adds. “Until now.”</p>